biography

Goth Punks AFI Get Their Flowers in New Biography

Goth Punks AFI Get Their Flowers in New Biography

AFI’s resilience and innovation take center stage in Andi Coulter’s new biography, which is every bit as deserving of praise as more heralded peers.

The Best Film of 2024

The Best Film of 2024

Our Best Film of 2024 commemorates intriguing films, emerging voices and celebrated doyens searching for stranger narratives and new angles on existing legends.

The Best Books of 2024

The Best Books of 2024

PopMatters Best Books of 2024 include a broad range of nonfiction, many books on music, short fiction, a novel that turns a Mark Twain classic inside out, and much more.

Arthur Russell’s Underground Genius

Arthur Russell’s Underground Genius

Arthur Russell biography Travels Over Feeling is an elegy for a generation of underground artists that died too soon and a requiem for a vanished New York.

‘Louder Than You Think’: The Improbable Origins of Pavement

‘Louder Than You Think’: The Improbable Origins of Pavement

Louder Than You Think documents the early origins of indie rock’s Pavement through the cracked life and times of the band’s first drummer, Gary Young.

Bruce Springsteen Documentary ‘Road Diary’ Takes a Familiar Route

Bruce Springsteen Documentary ‘Road Diary’ Takes a Familiar Route

Bruce Springsteen documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band gets you there by taking a familiar yet still enjoyable route.

Graeme Thomson’s Revised ‘Under the Ivy’ Captures Kate Bush’s Complexity

Graeme Thomson’s Revised ‘Under the Ivy’ Captures Kate Bush’s Complexity

While Kate Bush’s work and life defy clichés and easy categorization, Graeme Thomson chronicles her story while conveying its inherent ambiguity and mystery.

Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’

Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’

In the vein of socially relevant topics at Venice Film Festival 2024, Queer, Joker: Folie a Deux, and 2073 got the island of Lido talking for different reasons.

‘The Beach Boys’ Documentary Brings the Sun and Surf to the New Kids

‘The Beach Boys’ Documentary Brings the Sun and Surf to the New Kids

The Beach Boys documentary appeals to Gen Z and Gen Alpha via Disney Plus with a breezy, linear, appreciation of the band’s sunny legacy.

The Complicated Life of Moby Grape’s Skip Spence

The Complicated Life of Moby Grape’s Skip Spence

This bio about Moby Grape’s Skip Spence dissects and casts a glowing light on his work as a composer of some of the most influential music of San Francisco’s psychedelic scene.

5 Superb Recent Books Blending Music and Personal Narrative

5 Superb Recent Books Blending Music and Personal Narrative

Music writing often combines the personal, political, and historical in new and inventive ways revealing the interconnectedness of these categories.

Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here Is an Homage to Fearless Women

Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here Is an Homage to Fearless Women

Masterfully layered and confidently executed, Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here swivels between intimate family drama and sweeping political thriller in an homage to fearless women.